Calvin Feller Meacham

The day started at 3:15 this morning. Although we were originally scheduled for an induction at 8:30 am, the doctor's office called us back and left a voice mail message requesting that we showed up at 4:00am. Sarah called them back and said, "Um, we actually prefer 8:30 if that's all right." They denied the request and said plainly that if we weren't there at 4:00 am they would probably give away our spot and we would have to come back another day to be induced.

So, obediently we showed up at 4:00 am...and we were the only ones there! They didn't admit us to an L&D room until 5:00 am (what a waste of at least one good hour of much needed sleep). We tried to stay relaxed. We watched Bill Cosby's YouTubeable re-enactment of his wife's childbirth experience and his cheerleading role: "Push it Out! Shove it Out! Waaaaaaay Out!"

Max tried to give his Mommy and new brother some encouragement with a hug.



The pitocin drip started at 6:30am. By 2:30pm Sarah started to have more pain. When the doctor came to check the baby's position she said, "Whoa, are y'all ready to have a baby?" Baby was crowning at that moment and announcing that he finally wanted to come. And after 3-4 minutes of pushing, the baby came out.

Calvin Feller Meacham, born at 2:42pm on Aug 5, weighed 6 lbs 13 oz. His birth was much easier on him and his Mommy than Max was as baby #1.

After talking to Max and prepping him for months for the new arrival to our home, we were pretty sure that he would be ready for the birth. After allowing him to walk in for the first time to see the baby we asked him if he knew who the baby was. He thought for a moment, and then said enthusiastically, "Baby Atticus!" (Atticus is the name of the newborn of our good friends the Fairbanks who we knew both in Columbus and now in Memphis.)

Both Mommy and Baby are doing well and resting comfortably for now. Thank you so much for your love, concern, and interest. We love you all--at least most of you :) .

A Frantic Update

Dear Friends and Family,



Since it has been a while since we've updated anyone on the ongoings of our life, so here's some bulleted events since our last post.

1)Ryan, as of July 1, finished his general surgery intern year and now he's on to ENT, which is the love of his life (apart from his wife :) )

2)We bought a new computer, a Dell Latitude with a sweet i7 processor and 500GB of memory.

3)Max has grown up so big. Today was his birthday. He was excited to get a white shirt and tie ("just like Daddy"), a basketball hoop, and some new trains for his train set.

4)Sarah has been busy gardening all summer long. She is distraught that the zucchini and yellow squash plants are absolutely huge yet have produced next to nothing.

5)Sarah is 4 days away from being induced with baby Calvin. Her induction time was initially scheduled for 8:30 but they called back and said we should show up at 4:00am. Are they kidding? How absurd to make a pregnant lady, on the eve of travailing unlike anything else she's ever done, not get a good night sleep!



Here are some videos of Max.

Catchin' up

So we've been a little neglectful of our blog. Ryan usually is the updater and he doesn't have a lot of spare time. So Max and I are going to give in and try our hand at it. (So far I've written two sentences and Max has shredded one magazine, tried to unplug the computer three times and pulled the phone off the desk once.)

I'm just going to start off with some of the messes.

Fall in Tennessee

One of the things we lament about being away from the West is the inaccesability to the mountains. Oh we really miss them. The Smoky Mountains in east Tennessee are beautiful but they're 6 hours away. We DID find a small forested area that had some gentle hiking climbs just about half an hour away from downtown Memphis. We got some solitude and got to play in the stream.

We want all of our Utah and Ohio friends to know that it is December in Memphis and we are enjoying a beautiful autumn. We've tried to imagine what y'all are up to this time of year. Whether it's sloshing through street slush or pooring buckets of hot water on your car to melt the ice over your windshield, we're sure you're enoying yourselves. Haha. Meanwhile we're still occasionally wearing flip flops and short sleeves. Thank heaven for the Dixie Heartland.

Max and his friends try to participate in a responsible grown-up job in our backyard. Somehow when they get ahold of the rake the leaves seem to spread out instead of make themselves into a pile. Curious.

Happy Halloween

We had fun dressing up for the holiday. Max "bearly" kept his hat on for the picture. He actually loved cuddling with his costume when it WASN'T on him, but hated it on his head. (Sarah wants people to know that this is NOT a beer in Ryan's hand.)

Ryan tried to bring some holiday cheer to his patients at the hospital. He was the only one that dressed up. He got some smiles and at other times got looks like "Is that doctor really going to treat me?"

This is the mischievous "I'm about to do something naughty" look. Thanks to Mom Jeffery for capturing this moment.

Max's first word was "doggie." He adores his stuffed animal that is affectionately called "Cruiser" since he was purchased on our cruise holiday to Mexico last year. We first knew that Max was following directions when we told him to "Go find Cruiser."

Holiday to Utah

Sarah and Max flew out to Utah for these last couple of weeks to be with Sarah's sister, who just had a healthy baby girl (Abby is the cutest). Sarah took advantage of the time out there and spent several days with both of our families. All of our extended family gushed over Max because they hardly ever get to see him.

As usual, Max got to be the center of attention. The scene below was no exaggeration. The flashes of cameras were incessant and the narrating of home movies was non-stop. His life might as well be a documentary...there IS enough footage.

The timing of this picture was quite serendipitous to capture the exact moment of Max tipping over the bowl of water and apples. He had merely been splashing the water around. Since everyone was laughing, he must have taken courage to get a little more bold and throw the whole bowl over and ruin the dehydrating project.

Max got to spend time with his new cousin Abby. Although he is smiling in this picture, Max was really quite jealous and indignant about having to share the spotlight with a new face. Maybe this is a sign that he's not quite ready for a sibling of his own. :)

Spending time with cousin Elijah. They look to be future wrestling compadres.

Max's 1 Year Birthday

This post is a little belated. Life seems to get pretty busy. On August 1, Max celebrated his first birthday. He has learned so many new things this year.

These are some of Max's friends in our backyard. The older kids were good sports to sit in the kiddie pool.

In choosing how we would decorate his first birthday cake, we thought of what was Max's most prized possession...his dad's Blackberry phone. So that's what he got.

Somehow we were not surprised at the transposition of cake from platter to face.

And the video below has nothing to do with his birthday party, but you can hear his contagious giggle as he frolicks in the man-made rainstorm at the botanical gardens.